Not bad! End of review. (Just kidding.) (There’s more.) I’m not sure if we were all expecting Justin Bieber to do a bad job on Saturday night, but if we were I’m not entirely sure why. His whole public life seems to be spent awkwardly playacting like some kind of aggressively sexy baby, so it would be safe to assume that he has had enough experience with character work to carry a few sketches. And he carried them well enough! The episode was unfortunately weighed down a bit for a few non-Bieber reasons, beginning with the Super Bowl cold open that — apart from the “back to you” back and forth, which was great — almost just felt like we were watching the the real Super Bowl blackout. WHEN WILL IT END AND CAN I OR CAN I NOT GO TO SLEEP YET? One of my least favorite (and, taking a quick scan of the Internet and also the groans heard in the living room when the sketch begins, everyone’s least favorite?) recurring sketches is “The Californians,” and that made another appearance, which makes sense because it almost always makes another appearance. I wish I could take Crescent Heights up across Sunset and then cross over to OUT OF THIS SKETCH FOREVER! Ha-ha-ha. Ahh. Very good! I thought Bieber was at his worst, and most Adam Levine-like, during the monologue, but that the idea was fine enough that it (with the help of Kenan) was able to prop him up. Also there wasn’t a song, which is always something to celebrate. So, uh. Let’s just get on to the clips, then? Huh? Huh huh huh? Why not!

Though she had only a few lines, Aidy Bryant came off the best during the “’50s Romance” sketch. She always performs well wherever she’s needed, so it’s hard to say whether or not she is overall underused or used the exact correct amount, BUT I’m leaning towards overall underused. She seems great! PUT HER IN MORE STUFF! The overall joke of this sketch — that Just Bieber was actually an 11-year-old — was very good, but the funniness of it kind of got lost in the murkiness of the jokes. Does that make sense? R U saying no or yes?

“Valentine’s Day Message” was very weird, MOSTLY because of JB’s weird aggressively sexy baby act. So gross.

The “Corey” segment during weekend update was very good, save for the fact that they did not mention how Echo Kellum was also on our beloved Ben & Kate. First canceled and NOW THIS?

I know I might be in the minority here, but I liked the “King Richard III’s Friends” Weekend Update segment, and I always like the whisper friends segments. SUE ME ABOUT IT WHY DON’T YOU. They are funny and they remind me of how everyone actually hates their friends, which is fun.

I LOVED “GLICE” SO MUCH. Oh my goodness, this sketch. I don’t remember the last time I laughed out loud so much at an SNL sketch. Did you guys like it? I feel like it was maybe toeing the Mad TV line, but stayed away from it enough for me to love it so much. But did it do that for you? Plz tell me. I hope you loved it. “It’s very glice.” – Borat.

It has been a while since we’ve seen “The Miley Cyrus Show,” which makes sense, because who even cares about Miley Cyrus anymore, but I thought the use of Justin Biber here was very good. AND I loved his pot joke, only because of the Miley Cyrus followup. (“Yeah, me too.”) There was a lot of good-enough-natured picking on of Justin Bieber throughout the episode, and it was all pretty fun! Right? Or did I just fall under his aggressively sexy baby spell? (Gross.) (YUCK.) (YUCK YUCK YUCK.)

“Principal Frye” is another recurring sketch that I do not like and do not understand the consistent use of, but I thought — and I know this is crazy — that Justin Bieber kind of saved it? He was very good here! I DID FALL UNDER HIS SPELL, DIDN’T I?

Man, I even liked the cold open and loved the monologue (thanks Kenan…also, thanks Justin for not singing). This was one of my favorite episodes of the season, which goes to show that when you want SNL hosted right, you call Seth MacFarlane and Justin Beiber!!

And don’t forget about the Bieber Body Doubles sketch. That was funny too. I mean…the whole episode was great. If Bieber weren’t so friggin’ creepy, this episode might sway me to like him, just as Timberlake did. But…the creep factor. Ugh.

Loved the GLICE (!) sketch. Actually surprisingly reminded me in a way of Will Ferrell SNL stuff… with Taran just fully committing to this single outlandish premise and fearlessly refusing to let it die. Something that probably woulda sunk under a half-committed actor. But he sold it. Great stuff.

I was very grossed out by Justin Bieber. I thought the body double sketch was the best especially because they were just straight up making fun of him and he was either a good sport about it or oblivious. I just find him to be so obviously trying to create and maintain this persona that is so gross and constructed and not at all appealing to me.
But when Kate McKinnon came out as Ellen? I died.

The glice sketch is SO GOOD, but the hilariousness had nothing to do with Bieber. He was essentially a cardboard prop for most of it, but he did giggle a bit and I love when the actors laugh. Regardless, the hilariousness is all about Taran Killam! Even if I had to do some googling to find his name, I’m glad I can follow it now.

“The Biebs” was actually pretty good in both the Miley Cyrus Show sketch and the Principal Frye thing (although both of those sketches are not very good on the whole and they should stop doing them) that it made it weird how horrible he was in every other sketch. They should have had him play James Franco in a sketch given his character in the Miley Cyrus thing.

I’m glad other people liked the GLICE! sketch. I was laughing pretty hard at that, but thinking the whole time that come Monday, I’d find out I was the only person who thought it was funny.

I still like the Californians, but it works better as a 3-5 minute sketch at the end of the show, like it was when it started. Also, I probably find it funny because I’m from Southern California (it should really be called “the Southern Californians”, since no one outside of the L.A. area uses the definite article when referring to freeways). It’s not strong enough to appear as early as it did this week.

And they can try and make Nasim Pedrad look all nerdy, but she’s still hot.

Also, the monologue was funny, and I did not like “Glice” very much, I am sorry everyone.

Please bring back Lord Cecil Wyndemere for all of the “awkward boyfriend” sketches. Oh, Paul Brittain, do you still think you made a good career move, now that your impending (singular) credit is “Male Cheerleader” in “Grown Ups 2″?

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